Overview

• Marcus Brooks has been convicted of first-degree murder in the death of 21-year-old Ariel Starcher, whose body was found in a duffel bag on a rural Missouri road.
• Key testimony against Brooks came from Taylor Stoughton, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as Brooks' accomplice.
• Starcher, a mother of two, was known to Brooks and had called him for rides in the past.
• The defense argued that Stoughton was the one to suffocate and bind Starcher, with Brooks claiming he only helped dispose of the body.
• Brooks' DNA was found underneath Starcher's fingernails, suggesting she had been killed trying to fight off her attacker.